


Words Unspoken

by greenmaskedmarauder94



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, I guess this is sort of canon compliant?, I mean I took liberties with Thomas' name so, all that fun stuff, basically we want some justice in this world right?, so kell goes off on Lila's dad, thomas bard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25690006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greenmaskedmarauder94/pseuds/greenmaskedmarauder94
Summary: Kell and Lila are in Grey London and they run into Lila's father. Things are said. Emotions are had. I am so sorry.
Relationships: Delilah Bard/Kell Maresh
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	Words Unspoken

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @forthegenuine for betaing this for me :D

Kell and Lila had been in Grey London for the better part of a week. Not to exchange letters with King George the Fourth. No, those days were over. Rhy had sent them there for a different reason: see if there were any magically inclined people. And make sure they weren’t able to nurture that inclination.

Lila hadn’t wanted to come back to her home that was no longer her home. Far too many bad memories to mix with the taste of ash on the air. But she hadn’t wanted Kell to leave without her, and he would do anything for his brother. Really, there should be limits as to what brotherly love would do, but Kell agreed right away. So here they were, back at the recently renamed The Stone’s Throw again. Kell trusted Ned to help them with this as well, as the young Enthusiast no longer had a desire to see if he could muster control over elements.

It still hit her, the sense of sadness and loss over Barron. He had been a part of The Stone’s Throw for so long that his absence was something she could feel. Then again, as he had unwittingly become a member of her small family, maybe his absence was just something she could feel anyway. He wouldn’t be there to look at her sternly, telling her she would find trouble if that’s all she went looking for. And he wouldn’t ever get to see what she had become. And that saddened her most, she supposed.

She looked up as Kell came back into their room, once her room, after spending some time downstairs with Ned. He looked at her face, then opened his arms to her. She settled in, leaning against his chest. “You still miss him?” he asked softly. She didn’t say anything, just nodded briefly. He kissed the top of her head, and pulled back to look into her eyes. Blue on brown, black on black. Truthfully, it was getting easier to be there. Easier to accept Barron’s death. And that worried her. If she wasn’t mourning him anymore, was there anyone left to do so?

“What were you and Ned talking about?” she asked, trying to take her mind off of the confusion surrounding her emotions concerning Barron.

“Oh, this and that,” he hedged. She narrowed her eyes at him but before she could say anything he distracted her by kissing her. It shouldn’t have worked as well as it did, but she leaned into the kiss, into him. Before she could deepen it, he pulled away, concern furrowing his brow. He always was too perceptive of what she was feeling. “Are you sure you’re all right?” She exhaled, nodded. His fingers traced her jaw.

“So, how much longer do you think we’ll have to be away from home?” Lila asked. “And how many people does Rhy think could use magic here anyway?”

“Well, his concern isn’t entirely unfounded. I mean, look at you.” She just looked at him. “I don’t know,” he answered. “I haven’t been able to pick up on any signs of magic, even small ones. But my eyes ended up missing you entirely, so who knows what we’ll find. You haven’t seen anything yet, have you?”

Lila shook her head. “No. Though I’m not as used to looking for the signs as you are.” Kell nodded, considered this.

“If we haven’t seen anything by the end of tomorrow, we’ll head back then. I know how you hate to be away from your ship for so long,” he teased. Lila just threw her pillow at him. He laughed, laid down beside her.

“Do you think we should fix the wall before we leave? You know, so Ned can use this room for other patrons aside from us.” Kell looked at the patch of ruined wood where he had trapped Lila the night they’d met. It seemed like a lifetime ago, when really it was only a year and a half.

“If you think so. Personally, I think Ned likes the remnants of magic. But we can fix it before we go.” With that, he pulled her close to him, hands brushing over her dark hair. “Come on. Let’s go to sleep.”

Lila let the feel of his hands brushing over her hair lull her into sleep. Strange to think about, but she still slept the best when Kell was next to her.

The next morning they rose with the dawn, the reds more muted than in Red London, but still bright against the dark blue of early morning. They left The Stone’s Throw once more, still looking for signs of anyone who could sense and use magic. As they continued to wander the streets of Grey London, Lila let her mind wander. She was still watching for more muted versions of what she supposed was like the door Kell had made the night they’d met, but she was also thinking about what it would have been like if she’d never met him. She didn’t know if she would have ever unlocked her magic.

She looked up and caught sight of a tall, slim man leaving a tavern. He had dark hair and a narrow face. She stiffened and froze at the sight of him, and Kell noticed. He turned to follow her gaze as it met the brown eyes of the man. He was shabby, and had the scraggly traces of not having shaved for a couple days. She hadn’t noticed that she’d started shaking until Kell put his hand on her shoulder and whispered, “What is it?” She blinked and took a deep, steadying breath.

“Mr. Bard,” she said coldly by way of greeting. Thomas Bard. Her father. The man who had sold her for some coin when she was fifteen and whom she hadn’t seen since that night. She had killed the man who bought her, of course. And then she began her life of always watching out for herself. It had been four years since she’d last laid eyes on him but he looked the same, eyes bloodshot and teeth yellowing from too much drink.

He frowned as recognition seemed to take over. Of course, she now had a black eye as she was meant to, but he still frowned. “I took great care to make sure your sign of devil possession was removed. Even stole the regular looking one. Why’ve you gone and put it back?” 

Lila shook with anger and a little bit of sadness. She willed him to stop in the street. He gasped as he couldn’t move his limbs.

“You see, Thomas,” she began, “it turns out I went and found what that mark really was. And hello to you too, you bastard.” She ended on a growl.

“You’re Lila’s father?” asked Kell incredulously. “I thought you were dead. She alluded to that anyway.” Thomas couldn’t hear the subtle shift to anger in his voice but Lila heard it loud and clear. “Don’t,” she whispered softly, but Kell continued. “What kind of man sells his own daughter to a sleazy man just so he can get a few coin? What kind of man cuts out his daughter’s eye.” His teeth were clenched now, both in anger and in pain as the ground rumbled and he used his magic. He could still feel Lila tremble, but with what he wasn’t sure. He was too angry. He thought he knew all about not great fathers, growing up with one who favored his biological son over his adopted one, but seeing this man here in this London, where Lila had starved and stolen and frozen just to get by made him angry. 

Thomas opened and closed his mouth repeatedly like a fish. “And who might you be?” he finally managed. The shock of not being able to move combined with the tremors in the ground had him a little spooked. And then he frowned upon looking into Kell’s eyes. “You’ve got the same affliction she has,” he said, rather stupidly in Kell’s mind, considering Lila had willed his body still and he could feel magic rising in his blood, demanding to be used. “Unhand me. What the devil is wrong with you two?”

Kell scoffed. “What’s wrong with us? I’d say you’re ahead in who’s more messed up. Thomas, was it?” Thomas nodded briefly, that being all he could do, with Lila’s hold still on him. She had gone very pale, and was still trembling. Kell could tell she no longer wanted to be here with the man, so he strode forward and punched him in the jaw. He crumpled to the ground, and Lila hurriedly strode away to the next street. Kell leaned down over the man, saying in a low tone, “You are lucky we are leaving your world behind. You didn’t deserve anything as good as her, ever. You bastard.” He turned and walked away, trying to catch up to Lila. He knew she wasn’t far away.

He found her in an alley, crumpled against the back of a shop, arms wrapped around her stomach. He strode next to her, crouching down so he could see her face. She was still shaking, and breathing hard. “He shouldn’t matter. He shouldn’t fucking matter,” she said, voice breaking a little. “Why does he fucking matter?” she asked, a couple of tears slipping passed her control. Kell reached out to cup her cheek, brushing them away with his thumb. And then he pulled her into his arms, offering his shoulder if she needed it to cry into.

“He doesn’t matter,” he whispered into her ear. “Nothing about that man in that street matters. The only thing that matters is you and who you have become.” He rubbed her back, and wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed softly. “Lila,” he whispered in her ear. They stood like that for a few minutes, before Lila pulled away, angrily swiping the tears from her eyes. She sniffed.

“I thought he was dead. I thought he had died long ago, long before I held a piece of Black London hostage so you would take me on an adventure. I never went looking for him after that night, and I never gave him a second thought. Barron was my only family. Why is he alive while Barron is dead?” She looked at him with eyes shimmering with unshed tears, her brown eye impossibly dark under the sheen. He held her face in both hands, and leaned his forehead on hers.

“I don’t know, Lila. I don’t know what sort of justice that is. All I know is that you are strong. You are alive. And you are so incredible, in spite of everything that he is.” He kissed her then, once. Just deep enough to show her how much he loved her. She had stopped shaking, and she sniffled once more. “Do you want to go home?” he asked softly. She nodded, and then pulled away.

They looked around, trying to gauge where they’d be in Red London. They would come out somewhere near the eastern edge of the Night Market. “Do we need to say goodbye to Ned?” asked Lila. Kell shook his head, and dug out his Red London token. Lila cut her hand, and spoke the words that would bring them home. “As travars.” They stepped through, and made their way up to the palace to tell Rhy that they hadn’t found anyone magical enough to warrant concern.

**Author's Note:**

> No, I will not elaborate on Kell and Ned's conversation. Also, no they did not fix the wall.


End file.
